Southern Section 5-A Baseball Championship : Wild Pitch in 7th Inning Helps Diamond Bar Edge Esperanza

Diamond Bar High School’s 3-2 victory over Esperanza in the Southern Section 5-A final came down to one wild pitch, one quick-trigger third baseman and one kneeling shortstop.

Diamond Bar (24-7) scored what turned out to be the winning run Saturday night at Anaheim Stadium when Mike Hoyos scored from third on a wild pitch by Esperanza reliever Doug Saunders in the top of the seventh inning.

The run seemed to be simply insurance at the time. It gave Diamond Bar a 3-1 lead, and Esperanza had wasted several scoring opportunities throughout the game.

But Esperanza, making its third straight appearance in the final, came back to score a run in the last half of the seventh, cutting the lead to 3-2. It also had runners on first and second with no one out.

But what had plagued Esperanza most of the game, lost opportunities, cut it down in the end.

Second baseman Todd Gudat sacrificed the runners to second and third. It was then that Dwight Neade, with a 2-and-2 count, hit a ground ball to the hole between short and third base. Esperanza catcher Rick Pressel attempted to score from third, but Diamond Bar third baseman Kyle Shuler speared the ball and fired to home, getting Pressel.

Esperanza (21-9) was still alive with runners on first and third and two out with Saunders (batting .494) coming to the plate. Saunders slapped a ground ball up the middle that Diamond Bar shortstop Tito Quiles smothered with his body, then flipped to second baseman Rich Fry for the force out and the championship.

“I wasn’t about to let that ball take any weird hops,” Quiles said. “I knelt down to get it. I just said, ‘Come here.’ ”

The championship is the second for Diamond Bar, which won a 2-A title in 1985.

For Esperanza, it was the second straight one-run loss in the final. Last season, the Aztecs were shut out by Lakewood and Mike McNary, 1-0.

“When you lose games like this, it’s hard to sleep,” Esperanza Coach Mike Curran said. “You have the winning run scoring on a wild pitch. It’s not going to be easy for me to get over this one.”

Diamond Bar’s initial run came in the first inning after two outs. Leadoff hitter Shuler singled to center, but was thrown out by Pressel attempting to steal. After Quiles struck out, center fielder Jim Edmonds, hitting .545 coming into the game, doubled off the left-field wall. First baseman Tony Darden was intentionally walked and designated hitter Vince Garcia walked to load the bases.

Esperanza starter Jason Moler walked Ed Mylet on five pitches to force in Edmonds. Catcher Bascom Mellon struck out to end the inning.

Esperanza got two singles in its half of the inning, but chances for it to score were cut down when Gudat was thrown out trying to steal second.

Still trailing, 1-0, Esperanza wasted another scoring opportunity in the third inning when, with runners on first and second and Saunders at the plate, left fielder Deric Williams was picked off first base by winning pitcher Paul Spere (10-1).

“We didn’t execute our offense very well,” Curran said. “A lot of people will be talking about the seventh inning of this game, but we dug ourselves into a miserable hole early.”

Esperanza out-hit Diamond Bar, 8-6.

Diamond Bar took a 2-0 lead in the fifth when Edmonds tripled to left-center with two outs, scoring Quiles, who had singled.

Esperanza scored in the fifth when Greg Hauser, who also scored in the seventh, got home on a fielder’s choice.